


Written in the Stars

by skymageariel



Series: 31 days of The Dragon Prince [16]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fun, Gen, Modern, Modern AU, School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27081445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skymageariel/pseuds/skymageariel
Summary: A science project with someone you hardly know can go one of two ways.
Relationships: Rayllum (The Dragon Prince)
Series: 31 days of The Dragon Prince [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946767
Comments: 10
Kudos: 61





	Written in the Stars

Callum stared at his notebook, pages blank as the earth science teacher kept rambling. He wanted to take notes, but his hands were shaking. He could draw, as he often did when his emotions fell out of control, but it was hard to draw when your brain was moving a million miles a minute. His distraction stemmed from the stargazing project he had due in a day. Normally, projects were no big deal. But of course, this one relied on the work of at least two people. For some reason. 

Their job was to chart the night sky. Just one night, one sketch. One detailed sketch, with constellations and planets all labeled, the moon at the center. Shouldn’t be too hard. Callum liked to draw, he enjoyed this stuff. The only problem was his partner. She was a soccer player, a jock who was convinced if she was going to school anywhere it would be for sports. Which meant she slacked off in every class, including earth science. Which meant she absolutely did not care about this project. 

The teacher dismissed the class to work on whatever activities they needed to complete for the day. Callum glanced up at his partner, watching as she propped her feet up on her desk, leaning back in her chair without a care in the world. With a deep breath, Callum stood, walking over to her. As he moved closer, his heartbeat quickened. Like, yeah, he kinda resented her, but she was also really pretty, and had a super cool accent that always left him tongue-tied. 

“Uh, hi,” he said, standing in front of her desk. “Rayla, right?” The girl glanced up from her phone.

“Yeah?”

“Hi, uhm, our project is due tomorrow, so we should probably do the stargazing thing tonight, so I-“

“Oh, yeah, that.” Rayla pulled her feet off the desk, looking up at him. Her eyes were a unique shade of lavender that Callum didn’t know was possible. “What’s your address?”

“339, Castle Lane,” he breathed as the bell rang above.

“Cool,” Rayla replied, slinging her backpack over her shoulder as she stood, “See you at seven? Ten minutes before sunset.” She smiled, moving past him. Nodding to himself, Callum made a mental note. Seven o’clock. 

—

Six fifty-five rolled around, and the house was in tip-top shape. Ezran was at a friends house, Harrow was reminded to leave them alone, the cookies in the oven had one minute left, there was a set of blankets by the door for when they went outside- Callum had thought about everything. 

The doorbell rang with thirty seconds left on the oven. Making his way to the front, Callum brushed back his hair with his hand and took a deep breath. Opening the door, he smiled as he saw Rayla standing in front of him. She was twisting her wet hair into a braid.

“Hey,” she said, “Sorry for my appearance, I just got out of the shower.”

“Oh, no worries,” Callum answered, stepping aside so she could come in. In the kitchen, the oven timer beeped. He waved for her to follow, making his way back into the kitchen. Grabbing an oven mitt and opening the door, he said, “I made us some cookies. Chocolate chip.” He pushed the tray of cookies onto the counter. “They’re a bit hot, though, so we should probably wait a bit.”

“No way, you bake?” Rayla asked with a grin. “I didn’t know that. That’s really cool!”

“Oh, really?” Callum blushed. “Thanks.”

“What other stuff do you do?” She took a seat at the island, watching Callum with intent.

He shrugged. “I like art, I guess.”

“Do you draw?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I see?”

“Uh, sure,” Callum said with a smile. “My sketchbook is upstairs- I’ll go grab it.”

When he came back downstairs, Rayla had moved from her seat at the island, admiring the pictures on the wall above the dinner table. There were pictures from every stage of life- Harrow and his mother’s wedding, baby Callum and Ezran, family Christmases, birthdays, the works. Rayla was laughing at one picture in particular- Callum in a halloween costume from when he was little. 

“You were Luke Skywalker?” she chuckled when she heard him come up behind her. 

“Yep, yep, sure,” Callum flushed, moving towards the wall. “We don’t really have to look at these, though,” he said, pulling the pictures of himself on the wall.

“Wait, what are you doing!” Rayla laughed, “You were so cute! With your little belt and lightsaber-“

“I have the sketchbook, let's look at that instead,” he let out a nervous laugh, guiding Rayla’s attention to the book he’d placed on the island. She smiled mischievously, making a grab for the book. Callum left her to that while he moved the cookies from the baking sheet to a plate, not paying attention. That was another mistake. And he realized that as soon as he heard giggling again.

“Aww!” 

“What. What are you looking at,” Callum spun around, dropping the spatula he was using. 

“Someone’s got a crush,” she teased, holding up a drawing of Claudia with little hearts around it. Callum made a grab for the book, blushing profusely, but Rayla pulled it back. “No shame, dude! It’s cute!” She continued flipping through the pages.

“For the record, that was a year ago, I’m over it,” he said. Rayla didn’t answer. “Please don’t tell her.”

“I won’t, I won’t,” she replied, absentmindedly. After a moment, any trace of a smile disappeared as she became invested in the pictures before her. Callum watched as her eyes moved from page to page, looking with intent. Her expression changed.

“What?” Callum asked, fidgeting with the zipper on his hoodie. 

“You drew me.” She showed him the page- It was indeed a picture of her, gearing up to kick a soccer ball. In the drawing, she was sporting a mad grin, hair pulled back in a ponytail, position geared to kick the ball with as much force as possible.

“I’ve been to a few games,” he replied, trying to hide the squeakiness in his voice, hoping she didn’t notice the heat that rose to his cheeks. “You’re really good.”

“Thanks,” Rayla said, staring at the page. She didn’t turn to the next one. 

“So, the sun’s down,” Callum said, clearing his throat. “If you want to get set up outside, we can start charting stuff.”

“Right,” she snapped the book shut. “Sounds good.” 

The two made their way to the backyard- Callum holding a blanket to put on the ground, and Rayla holding the plate of cookies (and eating them one by one). They walked a few paces until they were far enough away from the light of the house for stars to start peeking into the night sky. After laying down the blanket, they each took a seat on the ground. Callum opened his sketchbook, turning to a blank page and watching the sky. Rayla turned to look at him, smiling. But Callum didn’t see. Instead, he started drawing. First, a compass in the corner of the page. Then, a circle in the middle of the page. The moon. Watching him work was interesting. He’d spend a few moments, looking at the stars above, before turning back to his sketchbook, where he’d draw points and lines as quickly as he could, before tilting his head to the sky again. And he was completely silent. It was like he’d forgotten Rayla was there.

She leaned over, looking at the sky he’d created. Comparing it with the one above, it was exact. After a second, she moved closer. Callum froze, tensing up.

“What?” Rayla asked. She was so close, Callum could feel her breath on his cheek.

“Nothing,” he shook his head, pencil moving across the paper again, though he didn’t relax. He connected the lines between the constellations, creating little text boxes around their names. Around the lines that connected Hercules, Callum outlined a warrior to match. Around Taurus, he lined a bull. Around Ursa Minor, a bear. There was silence between them- nothing but the wind around them and the scratching pencil. Next to him, Rayla shivered, hugging her knees to her chest.

“Here,” he handed her his sketchbook and pencil. “You do some. It’s a group project, after all.” She silently took the materials, admiring the work before her. 

“I’m scared to make a mark,” she admitted. “It’s perfect already.”

“I’m missing some things,” Callum said, unzipping his jacket. “And to be completely honest, I don’t have the best eyesight in the world, so there might be a few stars up there that I missed.”

Rayla didn’t notice as he pulled his arms from the sleeves. She did notice the warm fabric being draped over her shoulders.

“What’s this?” she asked, glancing over at him. He didn’t look at her, staring at the sky.

“You looked cold.”

“Oh.” Rayla looked back at the chart of the sky, smiling to herself. “Thanks.” There wasn’t anything to add to the drawing. She looked back and forth between the book and the sky, finding nothing Callum missed. So instead of being a good student, charting the stars like she was supposed to, she looked at the drawing of the moon. A plain circle. Nothing inside. Adding some lines, shading in the shapes, Rayla added her own flare to the project. After a minute she handed Callum the book before pulling his jacket sleeves onto her arms. 

“It’s a soccer ball,” Callum laughed, looking at what she’d done. “You turned the moon into a soccer ball.”

“Well, yeah,” Rayla said, laying down to watch the sky. “Soccer’s kinda my thing. Plus, you totally lied about having bad eyesight. You have everything done.”

“It’s true,” Callum sighed, laying down next to her. “I do have 20/20 vision.”

“Wanna hear a secret?”

“Of course, always.”

“I don’t.”

Callum turned his head to face her. “What?”

“It’s true.” Rayla pulled his jacket tighter around her. “I wear contacts. No one knows, though.”

“Why?”

“I dunno,” Rayla sighed, “I just don’t like me in glasses, plus I can’t wear them during games, and-“ she cut herself off. “It’s just easier to pretend I don’t have them.”

“Well, personally, I think everyone looks good in glasses,” Callum reasoned. “And I also think that your vision- or lack thereof- is part of you. Why not embrace it?”

“That’s… poetic, Callum,” Rayla smiled. 

“Thanks. I expect you to show up with glasses tomorrow,” he joked. 

“Wanna bet?”

“Always.”

—

The desk next to Callum’s in his earth science class had been vacant all year. All year- until the next day, when Rayla walked in. She sat in that desk, staring at Callum with a smug look on her face. Looking up from his notebook to see her, he smiled. 

“Nice glasses,” he said. 

“Thanks,” she smiled. Callum opened his sketchbook to a page he was currently working on. The drawing was almost done- all he had to do was add a pair of glasses across the nose and a few little hearts in the empty space around her. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading! sorr for missing yesterday, ive been hella busy lmao


End file.
